A universal problem shared by police officers, fire fighters, and others responding to emergency calls is the difficulty locating the origin of a 9-1-1 call. Oftentimes, there is no name or address visible at the residence or business in distress. In condominium complexes, the problem is more acute, as many of the buildings can be indistinguishable from one another. Even in areas equipped with sophisticated networks that identify the location of the 9-1-1 caller to a dispatcher, the responding personnel often cannot quickly ascertain the location of the emergency. The critical time wasted searching for the source of an emergency can often mean the difference between life and death.
Emergency telephone activated signalling systems which activate an external house light or strobe light when a 9-1-1 telephone call is made are already known in the prior art. Examples of such systems are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,951 issued Jun. 19, 1990 to Robinson et al.; U.S. Pat. No 4,993,058 issued Feb. 12, 1991 to McMinn et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,507 issued Apr. 30, 1991 to Leighton et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,677 dated Jul. 26, 1994 to Ray et al. The aforesaid systems are all supplied with logic circuits to distinguish 9-1-1 when it is dialed on the user's telephone from other dialed numbers which simply contain 9-1-1 along with other digits, and to activate a flashing light visible on the exterior of the building in order to assist persons responding to the emergency to locate the call. While the systems described in the patents provide, in some cases for changing the sequence of emergency digits which is recognized, and in some cases also provide for a second sequence of digits for testing purposes, they do not disclose the ability for the user to program several emergency numbers, any one of which will actuate the flashing light. Nor do they disclose systems enabling the user to easily adjust the expected response time delay.
The installation of the systems disclosed in the aforementioned patents also requires running wiring between the telephone monitor and the external lighting device. This causes the installation to be expensive and requires re-wiring when moving the telephone monitor and the external lighting device to different locations. In larger complexes of buildings, such as apartment buildings or condominiums, the distance from the telephone to a location for the flashing light which is visible from the street may be extensive. If it is desired to have several individual emergency response systems identified with different users within a building complex, they must operate independently, and serve to identify the particular individual unit within the complex where the emergency is located.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide an improved emergency response system suitable for multiple residential units within a building complex.
Another object of the invention is to provide an emergency response system with ability of the user to program one or more sequences of emergency dialed digits.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved emergency response system with flexibility to locate the external warning device easily without re-wiring.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved emergency response system for guiding an emergency response team to a single residential unit within a building complex or group of buildings.